EU allocated 4 billion for Nabucco

PanARMENIAN.Net - Out of nearly 4 billion euros (US$5.4 billion) allocated for the energy sector over the next two years, less than 7% has been set aside for Nabucco, which seeks to pipe natural gas from the Caspian Sea basin through Turkey to the Balkans and Italy for eventual distribution throughout Europe as greater quantities come on line.



Nabucco was entirely eliminated from the register of projects to be supported from out of the EU's 5 billion euro stimulus plan to counteract the current financial crisis, but a compromise at the European Council meeting in Brussels restored just over a quarter-billion euros after East European members of the EU raised strong protests.



Besides Turkey's attitude (Ankara insists on the right to buy at below-market prices 15% of the Azerbaijani gas that would fill Nabucco), the question of Georgian transit has in some eyes become a complicating factor. While the Russian invasion of Georgia has altered Azerbaijan's politico-strategic perceptions and view of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, pipeline volumes through Georgia are coming back up to pre-invasion levels. Volumes that had transited by rail, however, seem not to have recovered as well. Kazakhstan has decided not to build a refinery at the port of Batumi, ostensibly for commercial reasons, peakoil.com reported.